Quantum Blue

That would make sense, especially if the player is all but ignoring crafting. Alpha 16 I first did 3 runs to level 30 at defaults (default is better for bug reporting), 3 Bonus XP test runs, and 3 runs at extended day lengths. (and then a few more at various settings.) I have done the same thing again with Alpha 20. ALL bonus XP runs (and extended game day runs) were easier. I had forges going much sooner, and not even crafting related - I had Parkour level 2 way sooner. Not to mention much higher Hidden Strike (ALL weapons). I KNOW I chewed through wandering hordes a LOT faster when I had bonus XP. And, you're right, I wasn't looting as much. I didn't need to. (A21 isn't going to be the same, though...)

It can - especially depending on difficulty settings. Although I do believe TFP does try to maintain a 'balance' at default settings. And I was only referring to XP settings. Did you modify any other settings? 'Typically' for a default game, Game Stage on 7th Horde night could be about 79. (30th Lvl + 49 days) * 1 difficulty. That would imply you experienced 72nd character level horde on day 7.

Loot Stage IS separate from Game State. Especially in A20. And, while there is some correctness about having less time, there is also the opposite, a character with 200% is going to have more perks, more health, more stamina, etc. They won't need as much time as those without XP bonuses. Not to mention more bonuses for killing faster, or crafting transportation sooner, etc. I have tested this myself, and I am easily more prepared for horde nights with XP bonuses versus when I do not. A21 changes this. XP bonuses won't help as much, but it should be obvious that extending time with day/night length options will probably make it 'vastly' easier.

Actually, that is not how the math works. If you check Game Stage on the wiki (https://7daystodie.fandom.com/wiki/Gamestage) it shows this: ([Player Level] + [Adjusted Days Alive]) * [Difficulty Factor] (1.2) Note that the formula uses BOTH player level AND time elapsed. Doubling the XP amount does NOT affect Adjusted Days Alive. The 'game' will be 'faster' from a player perception, because the Game Stage IS increasing faster IRL. But, inside the game (inside the formula), the character is actually leveling faster compared to time. What this means is that if you double the amount of XP, the character will have twice as many levels at a certain time as compared to one who is at 100%. (Horde Nights for example.) I know for a certainty (because I did some extensive testing on this, as well as separate tests on increasing the Day Length Time) that doubling XP makes the game easier. Alpha-21 sort of changes how 'large' the effect is. Pre-Alpha 21, character level/Game Stage affected an awful lot of things that the character did, or access to. Like which weapons were available (ability perks), etc. That is no longer governed by character level/Game Stage, but by number of magazines read. Number of magazines read is obviously going to have a lot of value. But, character leveling has lost that value.

wwiiogre: Are you changing your GAME (not WORLD) name? There are usually numerous starting points generated (see Further info below), but if you use the same name it will use the same starting location. I just tested myself and the same name starts in the same place, and different names start in different places. For the same world seed. Further info here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/4/3196991412355615810/

I'm on my 4th A20 run right now. And I am using 12k maps. (15 min to generate). While I might not 'play to the edge' on every map, when I decide to start over I do do (rofl) a fly around the cities to see what's there. I am 2 game weeks into my current one and decided to check before I wrote that post. No skyscrapers. (btw; there are a couple 4 story buildings - but nothing taller than that. And at least 6 'cities' with downtown areas... But I still love the 'districts'!) See? I wasn't kidding about my RNG karma. (btw - I know enough about RWG generation and know HTML/XML, and could probably spend an hour or two (or more...) figuring out if skyscrapers were indeed being included, but was hoping someone like you (!) might have some 'known' feedback before I did that. Thank you!

1 reload for 150 data points. (25 plantings of 6 plant types.) Each time for 0, 1, 2, and 3 perks. Because we are basically talking about coin flipping (50% chance for 1 extra crop) you should perform at least 20 'flips' to see if there might be a bias. (There's a much more complicated way of determining fair coin flips, but it is not necessary for this test.). I did 150 'coin flips'. Notice that the 'coin flipping' doesn't even seem to apply to 0 and 1 perks. The results were always factors of 50. (And I strongly suspect that 3 perks is base '150' plus a random amount that seems to mirror the 2 perks set very closely.) And, as Xeen said, it's more than enough for a person from TFP to take a look (if they want to) and see if something looks weird. And, even if they decide not to change anything, at least I KNOW myself what I will do with regards to farming and perks. (And it looks like it might even be helping others. Which is what I really posted it for.)

1. 150 data points per set is not 'anecdotal'. 2. I have quite a bit of experience with 7D2D, and farming, and the results seem to verify what I have been 'guesstimating'. (That IS 'anecdotal'.) 3. While that data set is not large, it is enough to draw good averages when you only need to evaluate a 50% chance of an extra crop. It could be different if the entire range per harvest were randomized. (It is not, there are minimums.) 4. I actually have a background in combinations, permutations, and statistical analysis. 5. I have the game save from that point, and I could do more data sets, but 150 per set is adequate.

As TFP has grown, and we seem to have heard some good news on POI's (better performance on some blocks, new poi developers, etc.) is there any chance we could see a return of some building/poi's that are taller than 3 stories? (Even if we had to limit to 1 or 2 per town/city? Any chance it could be a configuration button/slider?) (I really miss Dishong...) And although I may have been absent for a while, I still feel this is the best game I have ever played. (And it's still in Alpha!!!)

Farming and Returns with various Perk Points (Latest Public Alpha 20.6) I thought I would do some testing and (actually) see what effect Farming Perk Points has on farming yields. I know what the description(s) say, and I can easily test with Excel, but that would not necessarily reflect the game. For testing, I planted 25 seeds each of Potatoes, Corn, Blueberries, Yucca, and Coffee. I then saved after all plants grew. (So I could reload specific game point after each farming test.) Applied appropriate number of perks and harvested. PPs = Perk Points used Seeds = # of Seeds Returned (from 25 plantings) Crop = # of Crops Returned Cnvrt = # of crops needed to convert to seeds to be able to plant 25 more of the same plant. Remain = # of crops remaining (to do with whatever you want). PPs Crop Seeds Crop Cnvrt Remain 0 Potatoes 19 50 30 20 0 Corn 11 50 70 -20 0 Blueberries 10 50 75 -25 0 Yucca 12 50 65 -15 0 Coffee 10 50 75 -25 Averages 12.4 50 63 -13 PPs Crop Seeds Crop Cnvrt Remain 1 Potatoes 17 100 40 60 1 Corn 15 100 50 50 1 Blueberries 17 100 40 60 1 Yucca 8 100 85 15 1 Coffee 14 100 55 45 Averages 14.2 100 54 46 PPs Crop Seeds Crop Cnvrt Remain 2 Potatoes 9 111 80 31 2 Corn 6 114 95 19 2 Blueberries 10 111 75 36 2 Yucca 14 116 55 61 2 Coffee 19 113 30 83 Averages 11.6 113 67 46 PPs Crop Seeds Crop Cnvrt Remain 3 Potatoes 16 168 45 123 3 Corn 13 157 60 97 3 Blueberries 12 160 65 95 3 Yucca 12 162 65 97 3 Coffee 11 158 70 88 Averages 12.8 161 61 100 Conclusions: Farming is really not productive unless you invest at least 1 perk point. (You could get really lucky - as I did with potatoes, but...) 1 and 3 Perk Points seem to justify their use. 2 Perk Points seems weird. Even assuming my bad karma with RNG in games (I keep spreadsheets on almost all games, sometimes even tracking dice rolls. I really do have bad RNG karma.) the numbers just don't fit with the other perks. I almost suspect a bug/error in the code or the HTML files. (I haven't looked yet.) 1. I understand 25 plantings might not be representative of a early game, but I wanted a big enough data set to be able to draw conclusions. (Having said that, I can usually be farming productive with about 50 plantings (total) around day 30, if I keep reinvesting harvest back into seeds, with 1 perk point) by day 30. (on a 'standard game') 2. This is NOT meant as a commentary on TFP's farming process. (As a 15,000+ hour player, I can get used to certain alpha's, and feel 'pinched' when a new one rolls out, but have learned that after playing a new version for a while, I am usually very ok with the choices TFP makes. And, that I can adapt.)

Jost - where the heck did you get that town flipper idea? 😀 (He knows it's something I like to do in some run throughs.) I, too, might also use Well Insulated, or Pack Mule, or Demolitions Expert. And I might not. A lot kind of depends on RNG early game. And I like to experiment. (Although I rarely go above 60 min cycles). I also didn't feel Neminsis was speaking in a definitive tone. I read it more like 'for example'. (although he stated things like "most common build" he did preface it with 'probably'.) I read it as Neminsis was trying to clarify Perk expectations. (or End Game expectations.) I kind of do the same thing when persons speak out about realism and immersion. It almost always seems to be about TFP's ('bad') decisions and/or 'non-sensical' game limitations, and yet doesn't seem to be that hard to come up with imaginative ways to address almost anything. (and maybe because computers and game code is becoming more and more 'realistic', peoples expectations about realism are outpacing hardware and software development.) I suspect all three of us play in various similar ways and know the game is going to be whatever Fun Pimp Decisions are, and how we can best enjoy those decisions ourselves.

(In my previous run-through in which I seem to have a later stage than Start69) I very much agree with Star69 about bicycle, mb, and mc schematic frequency. I don't remember mini-bike schematics but I have seen a couple couple 4x4 chassis schematics as well. (in loot and once at a trader?) I hadn't used them as I had a 4x4 before finding. I haven't seen any non-bike schematics yet in this run through - 1st A20.1B5), but I am only day 30, lvl 38, lootstage 50ish. (but I will keep an 'eye' open.) I am also seem to be experiencing a slight uptick in beakers and acid. I know they were slightly increased - but with RNG... I 'usually' might have 3 acids and no beakers by day 30, but I got a beaker about a week ago, and currently have 6 acids. It doesn't seem like that is game breaking. And I just haven't had/need or time to build a chemistry station in this run-through yet.

I am currently quasi-semi-retired. But, I may be getting back in. My 'IT' background goes back to 60's. Dad and I were building plastic adding machines/calculators even before the Altair 8800. (I did a digi-comp before going to school). Dad (electronics tech plus) even brought home damaged 'mainframe' 'modules' that we would make good ones out of (along with some 'hard build' things like digital display frames, etc. I laugh when some try to use machine language as a 'bar'. (or even a TI-59) Me: "You mean you didn't have to use 10 mechanical switches for every byte of code and hit a switch to store, and do that a hundred times? For every program?" (cuz you would lose EVERYTHING by power or even hitting a 'bad' (not power!) switch... (and NO way to even SAVE programs. You know - like a tape or cards or anything) 😁

As I said I was just hopefully clarifying by saying it's not just about running 32 bit code - it is extremely useful for 'intense' 'code'. (btw - I added a '32 bit' clarification since this last posting as well.) I have. Although mostly for testing purposes. Granted I might have to turn down my ultra settings for 7D2D, but I still have unused GPU bandwidth (15-50%) quite a bit. Although I could do rainbow tables with Terraria and quite a few others. (Although not Minecraft set to 64 chunks. ) I tend to build very expensive gaming rigs. (9 fans and liquid cooling. With appropriate monitoring apps, of course.) Current rig within top 1.5% 3D Mark territory. BTW1: My last 3 rigs have been built specifically with 7D2D in mind. (Not the only thing, but a high priority.) BTW2: I am NOT trying to 'undercut' the 'kernel panic or BSOD' statement. Heck, I would bet you could literally fry some (a lot?) systems by trying that. (I probably could as well...)

(I see you updated your post. Just hopefully adding a little more clarity. btw - 'compute shader' - not necessarily the same as video/graphic/image shaders) Actually you can do a lot on GPU's. They are super sweet for 'hash cracking' and 'rainbow tables'. I had/have been in IT Security for 10 years and have personally run intense algorithmic code and various security applications on single and dual nvidia cards while playing games - including 7D2D. They are also quickly becoming a hot bed for hiding malware now as well. (Copying what happened to mac keyboards a few years back. But even that was preceded by CD-ROM EPROM's.) Some examples: https://developer.nvidia.com/how-to-cuda-c-cpp https://developer.nvidia.com/sites/default/files/akamai/gameworks/CN/computing_cgdc_en.pdf Some Cuda 64 bit functions: https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-math-api/group__CUDA__MATH__INTRINSIC__INT.html